Feminist Interpretations of Aristotle (Re-Reading the Canon)

From a feminist perspective, the contributors to this volume look into Aristotle's influence and question the possibility of escape from it. Feminists recognize that they too philosophize within the tradition founded by Plato and Aristotle and owe the Greeks a debt. Aristotle still influences our abstract thinking, search for principles, meditations on virtue and reflections on nature, essence and sexual difference. As critics of modernism and liberalism in our day, some feminists seek significant alternatives in the classical era while eschewing ancient sexism. From the essays in this volume, which are divided into two parts, "Theoretical Sciences" and "Practical and Productive Sciences", reflecting the traditional structure of works in the Aristotelian corpus, the reader can learn not only about Aristotle but about a feminist methodology in approaching major contemporary issues such as surrogate motherhood and women in the military. The reader can also find a perspective on feminist debates over whether logic is gendered, the advantages of an "ethics of care", feminist epistemology, and the nature of critical feminist spectatorship. Contributors are: Angela Curran, Marguerite Deslauriers, Cynthia Freeland, Ruth Groenhout, Marjorie Hass, Linda Hirshman, Luce Irigaray, Barbara Koziak, Deborah Modrak, Martha Nussbaum, Carol Poster and Charlotte Witt.